RUSTON -- The south end zone of Joe Aillet Stadium has been the site of some memorable moments during the facility's first five decades of existence.

Perhaps none was bigger than Gene Johnson's 16-yard TD pass to Bobby Slaughter on November 17, 1990, lifting the Bulldogs to a 31-30 come-from-behind victory over Colorado State.

There are wins. And then there are WINS! This was the latter. A program vaulter. A bowl bid clincher. One of those wins that Bulldog fans in attendance still remember vividly. And, those not in attendance, wish they had been.

It was a cold, windy afternoon the third weekend of November that saw an upstart Colorado State program venture into Joe Aillet Stadium. Earle Bruce, the late legendary Ohio State head coach, was in his second season at the helm of the CSU program. Urban Meyer, current Ohio State head coach, was the offensive coordinator for the Rams.

CSU was 7-3 entering the game and on its way to its first bowl appearance since 1949 (Colorado State would defeat Oregon 32-31 in the 1990 Freedom Bowl in Anaheim, California).

Tech was also 7-3 with losses to East Carolina (27-17), Western Michigan (27-21) and No. 5 Auburn (16-14).

What made this game so special? Easy. It's what was on the line for the program and that Bulldog team, playing in only its second season as a full-fledged member of the FBS (known then as Division I-A).

Louisiana Tech entered the contest with a possible bowl bid – the first in a dozen years – on the line. Head coach Joe Raymond Peace knew it. The Bulldog players knew it. The Tech faithful knew it.

"Absolutely. Absolutely, we knew what was on the line," said Peace. "We were told by several people on the Independence Bowl Committee and through some of our alums that were strong supporters that a win over Colorado State would probably clinch a spot in the Independence Bowl."

The game was played during quarter break at Tech. School was out. Ruston was dead. But that didn't prevent those in attendance from remembering the game as one of the biggest ever in the 50-year history of the stadium.

"Ruston was a ghost town that week," said Johnson, who threw for 128 yards and the one score. "But there were some diehard students that were there giving Colorado State hell the entire time."

"It was not an enormous crowd, but it was probably the most electrifying atmosphere that I had ever played in at Joe Aillet Stadium," remembered Slaughter. "As the game progressed, you would have thought that place was packed the way the crowd was going crazy. It was unbelievable."

An estimated announced crowd of 15,225 Bulldog fans witnessed a game for the ages.

"If you win you get into a bowl game," said linebacker Myron Baker, who recorded 15 tackles that day. "That was our thinking. That was our mentality."

"We pretty much knew if we won we would be in a bowl game," said Johnson, "and if we didn't win, then we weren't going to be in a bowl game."

For a program that was in the infancy of its FBS days, a bowl would be a statement and quite the accomplishment.

"The players knew how important it was," said Peace. "Everyone did, including the student body. It was big."

"We were still in that stage of proving ourselves," said Slaughter, who caught four balls for 57 yards and the game-winner. "More than anything else regardless of bowl opportunities, we just wanted to beat Colorado State and demonstrate we were a quality DI school that could do well against top competition."

These Bulldogs were confident, especially at home. Tech entered the game with a modest 7-game home winning streak at Joe Aillet Stadium – a streak that would eventually grow to 18, still tied for the longest in the facility's history.

"We thought we aren't supposed to lose when we played at home," said Johnson. "It probably didn't hurt that we had an NFL Hall of Famer playing left tackle (in Willie Roaf) and (a lot of other talented players). We had some great players during that time. It had something to do with being on a talented team, but there was more to it than that. We thought we were invincible when we played at home."

After a first quarter that saw each team score on its second possession – Bulldog running back Michael Richardson scampered up the middle 43-yards for a TD to tie the game at 7-7 with 2:53 to play in the stanza – Colorado State took control in the second quarter.

The Rams outscored Tech 17-7 in the second quarter, including a 42-yard pass from QB Mike Gimenez to teammate Mark Holmes with 1:19 to play before the half, giving CSU a 24-14 lead at the break.

Tech's chances of earning a bowl berth were 30 minutes from being doused. Peace said his halftime speech was pretty simple and to the point.

"The message was somebody has to make a play," said Peace. "Somebody has got to make a big play. We have enough good players on this football team to make plays, so let's go make one. We have made big plays all year."

Baker said he recalls a little more of a stern message from linebackers coach Jerry Baldwin in the locker room.

"Coach Baldwin pretty much put it in our hands," said Baker. "He told us if we lost, it was on the linebackers. We had very clear instructions that if we lost, don't bother going into the locker room. Just stay out here on the field because we have a few more things to do. He pretty much laid it out for us. He was serious. That got us motivated."

It showed on the field over the final two quarters. After surrendering 270 yards and 24 points in the opening two quarters, the Tech defense stiffened in the final 30 minutes of action. Colorado State managed just 130 yards and six points after halftime.

"We felt pretty good," said Slaughter about entering the second half. "We kind of took the punch from them early and realized it wasn't that bad. We realized we had to finish. Offensively we hadn't done that yet. Our defense played tremendous in the second half. We finally just started executing."

Despite the better effort in the second half, the Rams struck first with a 12-yard TD run with 5:31 to play in the third quarter. Despite a missed extra point (which would ultimately play a huge role in the final outcome), Colorado State led 30-14. Tech had just over 20 minutes remaining in its season unless things changed.

"I don't remember a point where we viewed it as a miracle comeback," said Johnson. "It was a game we wanted to win, and we set our minds to it. I don't ever remember feeling we were out of the game at any point."

The offense needed to answer the Rams score. And it did.

Jason Davis capped a 73-yard drive with a six-yard run and Chris Boniol's extra point cut the Colorado State led to 30-21 with just over a minute to play in the third quarter. Johnson found Eddie Brown to convert a huge fourth-down-and-three play from the CSU 32-yard line to keep the scoring drive alive.

The Bulldogs were starting to make plays. It was the defense's turn.

"When the offense started to pick their side up, then the defense started to pick our side up," said Baker. "It just started working out. We were feeding off each other."

After back-to-back three-and-outs by both teams, CSU took over on its own six-yard line. On a third-down-and-four play, Bulldog safety Doug Evans intercepted a pass, giving Tech possession on the Rams 43-yard line.

Tech trailed by nine with 12:48 to play.

The Bulldogs picked up two first downs and then found themselves facing a fourth-down-and-1 on the CSU five-yard line. Peace opted for a 22-yard Boniol field goal, cutting the deficit to 30-24 with 9:37 remaining.

Tech needed another stop. This one wouldn't come easy. For one of the few times in the second half, CSU mounted a drive, moving from the Ram 20-yard line down to the Bulldogs 26-yard line. After an incomplete pass on third-and-seven, Mike Brown set up for a 44-yard field goal attempt that would give the Rams a nine-point lead with just over five minutes to play.

Call it divine intervention but for the second time in the second half, the Rams kicker misfired on a crucial kick as the attempt sailed wide right.

The Bulldogs had a chance.

Starting on its own 26-yard line, Johnson hit Slaughter for an 18-yard gain on third down and eight, giving Tech a first down. Three plays later, Tech faced a fourth-down-and-two from the CSU 45-yard line. The game was on the line.

However, an off sides call against Colorado State gave Tech the first down. Michael Richardson then ripped off back-to-back runs that accounted for 24 yards, moving the ball down to the Rams 16-yard line.

The next play would go down in Tech lore.

On first down and 10, Johnson found a wide open Slaughter for the game-tying touchdown. Both players remember the play like it was yesterday.

"They dropped coverage on it," said Johnson. "Bobby was wide open. He backpedaled into the end zone. It was a corner route. Smash game on the corner route. I was scared to throw the ball.

"Before the play started, the safety that was covering him cheated in to blitz and they didn't rotate the coverage over the top. I kept thinking they would rotate someone over the top of him. I will never forget dropping back and thinking this is the hardest pass I've ever thrown because he was so wide open. I'm thinking, 'Oh God just get it there, please.' He started backpedaling and just kind of fair caught it. I thought 'don't trip … just catch the ball.'"

"There is probably one recurring dream I have as a former athlete and that is what if I had dropped that ball," said Slaughter. "Seriously, I think about that every so often. It was such a 'gimme'. It was the easiest route and the easiest throw that Gene and I ever had in our careers because of the busted coverage. I think I would have just kept running up the hill and never come back (if I had dropped it).

"I was contemplating, 'do I reach out and catch it with my hands or do I body it to make sure I don't drop it?' I reached out and caught it, and then got rid of it as fast as possible to the umpire."

Boniol's extra point with 2:14 to play gave Tech a 31-30 lead. One more stop and these Bulldogs were bowl bound.

On the ensuing possession, back-to-back incomplete passes set up a third-down-and-10 from the CSU 20-yard line with less than two minutes to play. Evans then made a tackle on a four-yard completion on third down, setting up a fourth and six.

The fourth down pass was complete from Gimenez to Mark Holmes, but Freddie Smith made the stop a yard short of the first down, sealing the victory for the Bulldogs.
Johnson kneeled on the ball twice in victory formation and the celebration began.

"The fans stormed the field, and it was utter jubilation," said Johnson. "I remember thinking how neat it was these fans came and supported us and pulled us through it. It probably wasn't a win nationally that meant anything, but for our team and our program knowing where we were just a few years before … for us to be viewed as a bowl team what that win meant for us as a team and for LA Tech was pretty big at the time."

For the first time in the history of Joe Aillet Stadium, the goal posts came down. The Tech students who had stayed in Ruston during the quarter break swarmed the goal posts on the south end, pulling them to the ground.

"After that game to tear down the goal posts they knew how important it was to the program and everyone involved," said Peace. "The move we made from I-AA to Division I-A and then in two short years to play in a bowl and play a team like Maryland was a huge plus for us. The Colorado State win was huge.

"It showed that we could compete on another level. It might not have been SEC, but it was another level; the level we are at right now. We all knew that. We knew what was on the line as far as the future of Louisiana Tech football."

"It was exciting to see the fans' reaction to (the win)," said Baker. "We had never seen the goal posts come down before."

"I think it was such a state of euphoria that I don't remember a lot of that to be honest with you," said Slaughter. "I remember people coming up to me. I remember my friends dog-piling me. I don't remember much more."

In just its second year as a full-fledged member of the FBS ranks, Louisiana Tech had positioned itself for a bowl bid (Tech would receive an Independence Bowl bid days later and would tie Maryland 34-34 before a record crowd in Shreveport).

"We knew we were playing for something," said Slaughter. "We weren't 100 percent sure what that was other than we wanted to kick Colorado State's butt, and we did. We won. But we also knew there was something more there.

"We had such a bond as a team because we had been through so much together. We had suffered a lot of humiliating defeats in this move to DI. But now in our first couple of years we established through Joe Raymond Peace's leadership that we were to be reckoned with on so many levels. It was unbelievable. You would have thought there were 40,000 people at Joe Aillet Stadium that day."